A liquid crystal touch panel module or the like, which is mounted on an electronic device such as a smartphone, has been known as a display device having a press detection function (hereinafter, referred to as a press sensor in some cases). This module has both a touch detection function and a press detection function. A method of utilizing a change in electrostatic capacitance between electrodes caused by press on a screen is adopted for the press sensor. When the screen is pressed by an object such as a finger, the display device provided with the press sensor detects an electric signal representing the amount of change in electrostatic capacitance associated with a pressing load and a pressing force. The display device calculates the pressing force or the like from the detected signal through a predetermined operation based on physics. Alternatively, the display device determines whether or not a value of the detected signal, the calculated pressing force, or the like is equal to or larger than a threshold value. The display device and the electronic device can perform predetermined control process by utilizing such press detection information.
The representative embodiment of the present invention is a display device, and is characterized by including the following configuration.
A display device according to an embodiment includes: a display panel that performs display on a screen; a plurality of plate-shaped drive electrodes that are arranged in a region corresponding to the screen in the display panel; a solid base electrode that is arranged in the region corresponding to the screen at a position spaced apart from the drive electrode of the display panel on a back side in a thickness direction; and an elastic layer that is arranged between the display panel and the base electrode in the thickness direction, and the elastic layer includes a central region in the region corresponding to the screen and a peripheral region of the central region, and an elastic modulus of the peripheral region is lower than an elastic modulus of the central region.